Big Brother and other workplace surveillance

February 28th, 2008 at 03:05pm Nate Legue

I hope you’re not reading this while you’re at work.

Because if you are, your employer could be watching. Actually, there’s a two-in-three chance your company is looking over your shoulder. Sixty-six percent of employers say they’re monitoring workers’ Internet connections and 65 percent say they block access to certain Websites, according to an annual electronic surveillance survey by the American Management Association and The ePolicy Institute.

It’s no surprise that 96 percent of employers who block content are concerned about employees visiting adult sites. Other concerns include game sites (61 percent), social networking sites (50 percent) and entertainment sites (40 percent). Only 27 percent were worried about online shopping or auction sites and one in five cared about sports sites.

The poll of 304 U.S. companies also found that 28 percent of employers have fired workers for email misuse. Violations of company policy led to 64 percent of dismissals and inappropriate or offensive language was included in 62 percent of firings. Using company email too often for personal messages led to only a quarter of terminations, so most employers don’t care much if you’re corresponding with buddies.

To read the entire release, visit here.

Entry Filed under: Workers, Statistics